The California Highway Patrol has shut down the Grapevine section of Interstate 5, where icy conditions, freezing rain and dropping temperatures have already caused several fender-benders on the steep roads.

Hundreds of business and political leaders gathered in San Jose to consider the advantages of merging the nine-county San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley into a single region, sharing everything from city dumps to water treatment plants as communities sprawl across borders.

The number of Americans projected to gain insurance from the U.S. health care law is eroding by at least 5 million people as the Obama administration struggles to implement the $1.3 trillion overhaul amid Republican opposition.

An alarm that alerts authorities about possible obstructions on San Francisco's world-famous cable car line didn't sound off before a cable car hit a bolt and came to an abrupt stop, injuring seven people, transit officials said Thursday.

San Jose airport officials are urging the city lawmakers to approve a deal that would allow Google to build an aviation hub so the company can land and service its corporate jets at Mineta San Jose International Airport.

WASHINGTON — Just 16 percent of eligible workers took time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act last year to recover from an illness, care for a new child or tend to a sick relative, according to a government report released on the law's 20th anniversary Tuesday. Most employers said the absences did not hamper productivity or profitability.

WASHINGTON — Eager to buy time and avoid economic pain, President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to pass targeted short-term spending cuts and higher taxes as a way to put off sweeping, automatic cuts that would slice deeply into military and domestic programs starting March 1.